Everyone wants to protect children. Everyone also appreciates the benefits of a robust and engaged volunteer sector. We should be able to have both at the same time. Yet many long-time volunteers are quitting and potential new entrants are skipping the experience altogether. With safety precautions overwhelming the volunteer sector, it is becoming increasingly difficult to give away one’s own labour. Using his personal experience as a guide, Peter Shawn Taylor takes a close look at the charitable sector’s current mania for police checks and other safety measures, the costs they impose on volunteers and whether they’re actually protecting our kids from sexual predators.

The South Nahanni River is widely recognized as the Holy Grail of Canada’s wild rivers. Paddlers, hikers and nature lovers all dream of experiencing first-hand the wonders of this fabled river in a national park in the Northwest Territories. But how did it earn such a reputation? In the concluding installment of a series that began with his account of a recent canoe trip through the Nahanni’s famous canyons, Peter Shawn Taylor charts the creation and evolution of the river’s aura as a remote place filled with mystery and adventure. From native myths to early 20th century hysteria about headless prospectors to its stature today as a premier bucket-list item, the Nahanni has carved out a permanent place in our national consciousness. It may be Canada’s greatest brand. Here’s how it happened. Part I can be read here.

Among Canada’s active bucket-list crowd, canoeing the South Nahanni River is often found at the very top of the page. This fabled river in a national park in the southwestern corner of the Northwest Territories is remote, expensive to access and, at times, quite challenging. It is also spectacularly rewarding. And while the number of people fortunate enough to see this area number only in the hundreds annually, it looms large in Canada’s national consciousness. Peter Shawn Taylor recently returned from a multi-week trip that revealed the Nahanni in all its splendour and fury. In Part I of a two-part series, Taylor recounts his time on the river and what it means to complete the journey.

How big is Canada’s black market? In 2021 Statistics Canada estimated annual illegal economic activity (not including hard drugs and prostitution) at $68.5 billion, or 3 percent of national GDP. Whatever the underground economy’s actual size, federal Liberal policies are making it bigger, not smaller. Examining recent changes to Canada’s payday loan industry along with other striking examples, Peter Shawn Taylor reveals how the Trudeau government’s propensity for striking poses, raising taxes and imposing onerous regulations on legal businesses is boosting the profitability of their illegal competitors.

Late in life, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe was asked if his view of colonialism had changed in the half-century since he wrote Things Fall Apart, his famous first novel critical of British rule. “The legacy of colonialism is not a simple one,” he replied, “but one of great complexity with contradictions – good things as well as bad.” Today our understanding of that complexity is rapidly being obliterated as governments, universities and museums race to “decolonize” their institutions and make colonialism synonymous with racism, violence and exploitation. In his controversial new book Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, British ethicist Nigel Biggar seeks to revive the notion that the British Empire contained “good things as well as bad.” The Scottish-born Biggar recently connected with Peter Shawn Taylor to discuss the morality of empire, Canada’s own colonial legacy and how it feels to be named an “honorary” Courageous Canadian.

Do you love Canada? The answer ought to be axiomatic. How could anyone not love a country with such a long democratic tradition, born of a spirit of accommodation and committed to the betterment of all who live within its borders. Yet expressing such an emotion today seems utterly obsolete, as our national narrative has become obsessed with shame and regret over our colonial past and racist present. If even native-born residents can’t find a reason to show any ardour for their homeland, why should we be surprised when new arrivals act likewise? Peter Shawn Taylor examines the recent decline in citizenship rates among immigrants to Canada and wonders if it says more about us than about them.

Scratch the surface of any ancient civilization and you’ll likely find alcohol in some form, often consumed in copious quantities. Why is that? While the scolding voices of public health would prefer humanity put aside the crude and untutored needs of our ancestors, some things just seem to stick around forever. We still eat meat, we still watch combat sports, we still have religious beliefs and we still like to drink. With the federally-funded Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction’s new drinking guidelines arguing every sip you take brings you a step closer to your grave, Peter Shawn Taylor looks at the reasons behind booze’s remarkable staying power. And its many, unspoken benefits. Part I of this two-part series can be read here.

Just three years ago, governments across Canada effectively recognized liquor as an essential good, exempting alcohol sales from otherwise-restrictive pandemic lockdowns. Now, a federally-funded agency wants Canadians to largely stop drinking altogether, portraying alcohol as essentially toxic in even the smallest quantities. While claiming this advice is built on a foundation of unassailable scientific evidence, these new recommendations deliberately ignore a vast body of credible countervailing research in an effort to scare Canadians into swearing off booze forever. In part one of a two-part series, Peter Shawn Taylor exposes the biased and deceptive playbook of Canada’s new Temperance crusaders.

As the recent FTX cryptocurrency collapse demonstrates, anyone from sophisticated investors to retail dabblers can experience big losses when making risky investments. Not even the pros really know what the future holds. But at least they’re playing with their own money. When governments play the same game, it’s on the taxpayers’ bankroll – whether they like it or not. Peter Shawn Taylor examines the Trudeau Liberals’ new plans for an activist industrial policy that will see several yet-to-be-created federal agencies making big bets on businesses in favoured industries. “Picking winners” is back in fashion.

Canadian entrepreneurs used to build over 75,000 apartment units per year. Then came rent control, tax changes and other government intrusions, and they all-but abandoned the rental housing market. Now, with rental housing once again in short supply, the private sector has returned – pouring its own capital into improving and expanding Canada’s long-ignored stock of apartment buildings. Rather than celebrating this flood of new investment, however, a federally-funded cadre of housing activists is working overtime to prevent it. Peter Shawn Taylor examines the strange, Soviet-style demands of the Federal Housing Advocate and the harm such policies will do to Canada’s tenants.